old'un Posted February 15, 2019 Report Share Posted February 15, 2019 Been watching channel 4 “The Secret Life of the Zoo” this week was about breeding animals, in parts of the program the keepers talk about the importance of their breeding program because certain animals in the wild are at such low numbers there is the possibility of them disappearing from the wild altogether. I am not proud of what humans have/are doing to the worlds wildlife but what is the point of this breeding program if the only way these animals can survive and be seen is in a zoo, the keepers admitted none of the animals they breed could ever be released into the wild as they would not survive, so is the real reason for this breeding to replace their stock and keep the punters coming through the door? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Mighty Prawn Posted February 15, 2019 Report Share Posted February 15, 2019 3 hours ago, old'un said: Been watching channel 4 “The Secret Life of the Zoo” this week was about breeding animals, in parts of the program the keepers talk about the importance of their breeding program because certain animals in the wild are at such low numbers there is the possibility of them disappearing from the wild altogether. I am not proud of what humans have/are doing to the worlds wildlife but what is the point of this breeding program if the only way these animals can survive and be seen is in a zoo, the keepers admitted none of the animals they breed could ever be released into the wild as they would not survive, so is the real reason for this breeding to replace their stock and keep the punters coming through the door? I think it's always based on the idea of maintaining a species until such time as they could be released - they've worked wonders with the Orang-Utan this way. I watched that programme too and I think what he was saying was without specialist rewilding training that their animals could not survive, however I inferred from that that like the Orang sanctuary, it is possible to devise a training programme to then be able to release them? I could however be completely wrong. The main problem, which they did touch on, is that the very limited genetic stock quickly becomes a problem and sometime the species is just no longer viable from the remaining specimens. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alan barrett Posted February 15, 2019 Report Share Posted February 15, 2019 After doing some work at Woburn Safari park a few years ago ,I learnt that all breeds have a stud book that is kept so all zoos and animal parks can arrange the breeding and movement of specimens around to try and keep a diversity in genes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mice! Posted February 15, 2019 Report Share Posted February 15, 2019 We'll you couldn't release the animals if there weren't any? So having some breeding Tigers say in captivity is surely better than saying o well no more tigers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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